Suikoden III (PS2)
Riv , 2005/10/07 20:14

Publisher:	Konami
Genre:	Role-Playing Game
Players:	1 Player
Rating	Teen
Pros:	--Multiple Perspective System keeps the game very interesting, and stops it from getting too stale too fast. --New skill system allows for some customization of characters and in-battle abilities.
Cons:	--You’ll have to use set parties way too often. By the time you get to the end of the game you’ll forget you even HAVE other characters. --The World Map is small yet you’ll have to backtrack across the entire thing far too much..
Also Try:	--Final Fantasy X (PS2) --Dark Cloud (PS2) --Breath of Fire - Dragon Quarter (PS2)

It’s amazing to see how some games evolve from the PSX to the more powerful PS2, and that’s what you can refer to Suikoden III as; the series “evolved” from the prior two titles. This is the first 3D Suikoden game, and the series has received a complete change in graphics, presentation, and gameplay from the previous two titles which pretty much had the same game engine as one another. Also a nice touch is you can actually find this title without having to pay $200 or more for it (although take note that this game was never released in Europe for some reason).

One of the first things that will grab you with this title is the introduction video. By far this video is hands-down the most impressive anime intro package I have EVER seen in ANY videogame. Not only is it insanely detailed and well-drawn but also accompanied by a strangely haunting melody. You’ll oftentimes find yourself watching the intro every time you load the game instead of skipping to the title screen. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a video to include in this review but it simply has to be seen to be believed.

Now for a bit of a history lesson as to what you’re getting into. Suikoden (titled Genso Suikoden in Japan) is based on a Chinese Novel known as “The Water Margin” where 108 bandits rose against a corrupt government. In similar fashion the Suikoden series has 108 “Stars of Destiny” that will either join your party or perform various functions within your party’s headquarters. The World of Suikoden itself is still mostly unknown to us; every title shows more of it.

Suikoden history gaming-wise for us started in the Scarlet Moon Empire, controlled by Barbarossa, the Golden Emperor. After being manipulated by his power-hungry court magician Windy into trying to retrieve the Soul Eater (Rune of Life and Death), one of the 27 True Runes (the True Runes are the incarnation of Gods in the Suikoverse), he lost touch with his empire which became rotten and eventually was overthrown by your hero in Suikoden I (Japanese novelizations refer to him as Tir McDohl) and replaced with the Toran Republic.

Three years later, the neighboring country, the City-State of Jowston would entire a brutal war with the Highland Kingdom. Eventually both the Rune of the Beginning and the Rune of Beast, two more true Runes found themselves becoming instruments of a war which pitted friends against one another. In the end, your hero, (Riou in Japanese novelizations), led to the downfall of Highland, and both Highland and Jowston were merged into one unified country known as Dunan. Our third story takes place north of Dunan, and fifteen years after that war, in the Grasslands (mentioned briefly in Suikoden II), controlled by six tribes. The problem is the more “civilized” people of the Grasslands live in a country to the West known as “Zexen” that would love to expand by getting rid of the “barbarians” who reside in the Grasslands. Of course the Grassland tribes aren’t too fond of the “ironhead” knights of Zexen either, and thus the two have had skirmishes and battles over land. This is the beginning of Suikoden III. You play as…

…Well… umm… That’s up to you somewhat. You see, Suikoden III breaks away from traditions set in the previous two games. In the prior two titles, your hero is always the “Tenkai Star” who gathers the 108 Stars of Destiny. That doesn’t exactly happen here. The plot is now divided between three heroes in the “Trinity System.” You will play through chapters of each of the three heroes stories, and see their point of view of the game’s events. Your three characters are as follows:

Hugo. He’s the son of the Chief of the Karaya Clan (and one of Suikoden II’s bigger pain in the ass bosses), Lucia. Along with an experienced warrior, Sgt. Joe (who is a Duck-man by the way), his pet Griffon Fubar, and his childhood friend Lulu, Hugo starts off being sent to Zexen to form a truce between the Grassland Tribes and Zexen.

Then you have Chris Lightfellow. The only female of the Six Zexen knights who also happens to be their captain (and somewhat reminiscent of Charlotte of the Samurai Spirits/Shodown series), is also sent to form a truce with the Karaya and Lizard Clans, but instead finds herself attacked by them for unknown reasons. Her traveling party starts off as the other Knights of Zexen.

Finally there’s Geddoe. A Mercenary for the neighboring kingdom of Harmonia, who along with his team of Ace, Queen, Joker and Jacques (obviously “Jack” got mistranslated here), is investigating rumors of the return of the Flame Champion, the Grassland hero who almost destroyed all of both Harmonia and the Grasslands during a war between the two countries 50 years ago when the True Rune of Fire went out of control.

What is enjoyable about this is it gives you a sort of break from playing as one main hero and the game getting monotonous. Each hero has a distinctly different personality, and yes, players will endear themselves more to one than the other two, which later will allow them to effect the final outcome in the closing moments of the game. Hugo is carefree, yet knows things average kids don’t about hunting, and nature, as you’d expect a tribal youth to be. Chris is always stressed out. As a female she also has the misfortune of the other five Zexen knights always wanting in her pants. On top of that her Dad allegedly died in battle, but that’s something she fails to believe. Geddoe is secretive and quiet, much to the concern of his mercenary team who need to know they can trust him, but unlike the other heroes seems to know more of what’s going on and has ties to about everyone, everywhere. When it comes to magic, he’s also a bad motherfucker.

The perspective system is intriguing when it comes to events that involve two heroes. For example, playing as Hugo, you’ll see Chris to be a complete and total bitch who destroys everything in her path. Of course, playing Chris’ perspective allows you to see the reasoning behind many of her actions. Geddoe sort of is this neutral third party that sees a little of everything, and sees a lot of things neither of the two opposing sides can figure out for themselves. All of it pieces together towards the end and if you manage to gather the 108 Stars of Destiny yet ANOTHER point of view opens up, that of the true enemy, and a face from the previous two games that used to be on YOUR side.

Speaking of the 108 Stars of Destiny, this one plays a little different when collecting party members as well. Party members are loyal to whomever recruited them. For example let’s say you recruit Jeanne with Geddoe. This means Jeanne will not be able to be in either Chris or Hugo’s parties until all three roads meet at the end of the game. In other words, you’ll have to weigh carefully who needs a party member the most out of your three heroes to get by the next chapter in their story. A word of advice is that Geddoe almost NEVER gets to change party members and as such you should never recruit fighters with him because Chris and Hugo will need them more. Another tidbit about the Stars of Destiny is that this is the first Suikoden game in which before gathering all you may see some die as part of the plot and NOT be able to prevent it. This is normal so don’t freak out or reset your game if you have a couple of dead people before the final chapter. Another odd twist here is that because of the perspective system your enemies actually count as Stars of Destiny! On a side-note it’s interesting to see the Stars of Destiny of this title because it’s 15 years after the previous title; characters who were children are now adults. The children of some characters in the past are in this one, and some characters haven’t changed at all (True Runes, anyone?).

Some of the returning characters include Futch, Viki, Jeanne, Luc, Apple, Yuber, and Leknaat, just to name a few. Recruiting some of them won’t be obvious and it won’t come easy, but just to let you Suikoden faithfuls know, that just as Suikoden I’s data carried over to the second game, if you have Suikoden II data, and copy it to your PS2 Memory Card from the PSX Memory card, you can load it to bring some of your high levels to these returning characters as well as a few other extras that you’ll just have to find out on your own about…

Even though not too many characters return this go-around, some of the new ones are rather… interesting to say the least. One of my personal favorites to laugh at is “Guillaume” the crazy merchant in the Zexen capital. Guillaume is an appraiser who steals from his clients by lying about the value of appraised goods.

Wife has MS, looking for little girls.

He also has bandits attack people he sells to so that he can reclaim the merchandise he sold them. Guillaume runs around poking random walls and things with a trident, and also chasing little girls around to “play” with them (child molester, anyone?). One popular Suikoden website, even questions whether or not Guillaume is HUMAN. He kind of reminds me of someone else we make fun of on this site a lot, the melee-weapon wielding lover of teenage girls, Frank Stone.

And this is just one of the 108 Stars of Destiny; there are a lot of other strange and unique characters, like the five knights that want to bang Chris, a creepy Librarian, an abused-looking dog, and a pathological liar who insists that Hugo’s griffon is really “two guys in griffon costume.”

Now for the battle and party systems which have received a complete overhaul from the first games: You now have formations. Characters sometimes need to be in certain parts of the formation for unite attacks. In the case of animals some characters are capable of riding the animal characters in the proper formation (i.e. Hugo can ride his griffon Fubar, uniting their strengths into one concentrated attack). In the group of six, the characters are paired off and you can only select actions for one character in the pair. The other, based on his or her nature will either attack, cast a spell on their own or defend. This has received heavy criticism by other reviewers, but personally I saw it as a challenge, and a bit interesting as it puts you on the spot – which characters actions are more important/necessary? It sounds complicated but it’s actually incredibly simple and enjoyable to watch pan out on the battlefield. In the end of the battle you get skill points which you can use to customize characters, either making them attack more times in a fight, cast magic spells faster, take less damage, or be more likely to counterattack or score critical hits. This allows you to change characters to suit your personal style.

Keep in mind, duels and army battles are still here. Duels are the same Rock-Paper-Scissors formula they have always been, whereas army battles are a combination now of Suikoden II’s battles and the regular in-game battle system. You will see your character’s unit physically take on the enemy on-screen, but you won’t be able to control specific actions. What this means is armor, levels, runes, and items have bearing on army battles now as well. As always, your party members CAN die in army battles, so tread cautiously.

Graphically the game is cute. It’s not this intensely, high-detail “you can see the head lice on that guy” stuff that some games have, but it’s not supposed to be. The characters still change facial expressions, react and move particular ways during scenes, and the backgrounds are pretty vibrant and colorful. The music matches, with many tribal-sounding themes for the Grasslands territories to the fancy-style themes for Zexen’s towns and castles, and a few cute, almost comical tracks (The Lizardmen’s Great Hollow comes to mind, and the theme of the Dog Koroku). Of course, my favorite ridiculous track of all-time, the Theme of Narcissism is still present as Suikoden keeps it’s tradition of a flamboyantly homosexual swordsman going once more. I am a bit disappointed that some of the classic Suikoden tracks like the “Theme of Sadness” didn’t keep going through this title, though. Oh well, I’ll just listen to the music from the Intro again and it’ll be made up to me.

One gripe I will say I have is that the World Map has seemingly gotten much smaller, yet you have insanely long areas to travel to get from one town to the other. This means that you’ll do a lot of backtracking, and after a while it gets tedious when you spend a whole hour going from the western-most down, Vinay Del Zexay, all the way to the Eastern-most town, Caleria, and while you can teleport like in the previous games, you won’t be able to do this until pretty much the end of the game, when it’s completely useless anyway.

Viki, where the fuck where you 50 in-game hours ago?

All-in-all Suikoden III is exactly what the series needed to breakthrough and gain some high degree of mainstream popularity with gamers, and it has done just that, with many people putting the game in the same breath as Final Fantasy. 80-120 hours of gameplay will definitely make this title worth the $50 and ensure you get the most out of it. Konami has a winning RPG franchise on their hands, and enough interest to keep it going – in fact Suikoden III even has several dedicated websites to itself, as well as it’s own manga which has been released stateside. With the light coming out of the 108 Stars of Destiny, Suikoden’s future is looking pretty bright.

-- Riv - jasonrivera@jasonrivera.com